Cuidar é ocupação: terapia ocupacional e o cuidado informal - uma revisão de escopo

Abstract

Introduction: The social organization of care in various countries has been rendered invisible and undervalued, generally within the home, reproducing a workload that falls particularly heavily on families, especially women, especially Black women. Recently, Brazil instituted the National Care Policy (PNC), which proposes recognizing care as essential work for urban life and people's well-being, with a special focus on informal caregivers—individuals who systematically and unpaidly assume the care of others. The PNC proposes to redistribute this responsibility, making the state co-responsible for care. The problematization of care has direct implications for traditionally female professions, such as Occupational Therapy, whose professionals assume this socially assigned role. In this context, Occupational Therapy is called to reflect on its social role and its contributions to this process. Objective: The objective of this study was to map scientific productions in Occupational Therapy from Latin American countries that address informal care and their potential contributions to the debate on the Brazilian PNC. The methodology used was a scoping review, using the following descriptors: "occupational therapy" and "informal caregivers"; "occupational therapy" and "informal caregivers"; and "occupational therapy" and "informal caregivers." The resulting sample included 29 articles published between 2012 and 2024, originating from Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. Thematic Content Analysis identified three categories: Profile of informal caregivers; Impacts of caregiving on caregivers' lives; and Contributions of Occupational Therapy to informal care. Studies reveal that most informal caregivers are women, typically mothers, wives, or sisters, aged between 23 and 82. The centrality of the caregiver role directly affects their lives, resulting in absence from work, reduced leisure activities, physical and emotional overload, and limited time for self-care. The contributions of Occupational Therapy identified in the articles include assessments to measure the impact of care on caregivers' lives, identification of sociodemographic profiles, occupational roles, and access to meaningful activities. The interventions described occur primarily in health and social assistance services, using group approaches, guidance on managing health conditions, and encouraging self-care. More recent studies incorporate critical perspectives on gender and the sexual division of labor, broadening the perspective on informal caregivers. Although the articles do not directly mention the Brazilian National Caregiver Program (PNC), the review highlights that Occupational Therapy already works with informal caregivers, either through technical approaches or focusing on subjective and occupational aspects of caregiving. Thus, the profession can play a relevant role in implementing the National Care Policy, promoting actions that value and support the work of informal caregivers, especially women, who are primarily responsible for this task.